American and Irish Apprentices Get Different Perspective on the Trade

“There’s always something to learn from our neighbors across the ocean,” says BAC President John J. Flynn. The first apprentices participating in BAC’s Ireland-United States exchange program can testify to that.

The program began in summer 2004, when two American apprentices, Brett Gierak from BAC Local 1 MI and Brian Karas from Local 21 IL, spent three months in Dublin, working under the auspices of the Building and Allied Trades Union (BATU).

From left, BAC Secretary-Treasurer James Boland, Local 1 MI President Ray Chapman and apprentice Brett Gierak, BAC Executive Vice President Gerald O’Malley, Local 21 IL apprentice Brian Karas, Executive Vice President Ken Lambert, BAC President John J. Flynn, Local 21 IL President Jim Allen, and IMI National Apprenticeship and Training Director Steve Martini at a recent Executive Council meeting.